Suggesting that Mormons may not be honest regarding Church is not going to make me popular. However, I'm suggesting just that. And, I've suggested it before. See my blog posting that was part of my series on Local Church Leaders and Corruption.
We like to think that our local congregations (called wards) are doing well and achieving good statistics on things like attendance, contributions, etc. although this may not actually be the case. If we misrepresent our numbers this is statistical lying. As I've pointed out before, misrepresenting the numbers is usually easy to spot because our statistics will lack internal consistency.
For example, if we claim to have a lot of people interested in our Church by reporting high numbers of people getting missionary lessons, but we have no resulting baptisms, then something is wrong.
Another example, if we report high numbers of Church attendance but the numbers of temple-worthy members is going down then something is wrong.
If we claim we have certain numbers then certain measurable achievements should be evident.
Most members have some sort of "calling" or Church job. If we aren't doing our job, or doing it properly, then this is dishonest. If we glory in our title and power and neglect our calling we are much to close to Lucifer's model.
Lying to make ourselves look good in the Church is just as bad as lying to make others in the Church look bad. I'm not going to go into this right now. It is a another soap box for another day.
One of the things I do to keep others honest is blind copy. It amazes me how many people don't know how to do that. Anyway, I blind copy others on correspondence, especially Church correspondence, so that no one can misrepresent what I say or do.
However, this will only work if you are honest yourself. It works for me.
For example, if a conversation starts to get heated, I back off and try and give myself time to reduce my ideas to just logic and reason. I strip the emotion out of it.
I blind copy Church leaders, sometimes local and stake, on the correspondence. This way they read exactly what I said. No one can misrepresent me.
I will admit that I get a certain amount of satisfaction out of this. People are in for a rude awakening if they think they can lie about me.
I wish I didn't have to do it, but, unfortunately, I do.
We like to think that our local congregations (called wards) are doing well and achieving good statistics on things like attendance, contributions, etc. although this may not actually be the case. If we misrepresent our numbers this is statistical lying. As I've pointed out before, misrepresenting the numbers is usually easy to spot because our statistics will lack internal consistency.
For example, if we claim to have a lot of people interested in our Church by reporting high numbers of people getting missionary lessons, but we have no resulting baptisms, then something is wrong.
Another example, if we report high numbers of Church attendance but the numbers of temple-worthy members is going down then something is wrong.
If we claim we have certain numbers then certain measurable achievements should be evident.
Most members have some sort of "calling" or Church job. If we aren't doing our job, or doing it properly, then this is dishonest. If we glory in our title and power and neglect our calling we are much to close to Lucifer's model.
Lying to make ourselves look good in the Church is just as bad as lying to make others in the Church look bad. I'm not going to go into this right now. It is a another soap box for another day.
One of the things I do to keep others honest is blind copy. It amazes me how many people don't know how to do that. Anyway, I blind copy others on correspondence, especially Church correspondence, so that no one can misrepresent what I say or do.
However, this will only work if you are honest yourself. It works for me.
For example, if a conversation starts to get heated, I back off and try and give myself time to reduce my ideas to just logic and reason. I strip the emotion out of it.
I blind copy Church leaders, sometimes local and stake, on the correspondence. This way they read exactly what I said. No one can misrepresent me.
I will admit that I get a certain amount of satisfaction out of this. People are in for a rude awakening if they think they can lie about me.
I wish I didn't have to do it, but, unfortunately, I do.
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